Designed in 1998, the new Rosenthal Center for Contemporary
Art is currently under construction and slated for a 2003 completion.
The new building will occupy the northwest corner of 6th & Walnut St.,
opposite the 580 Walnut Building, the Aronoff Center, and just one block
north of Fountain Square. Batsakes hat shop, which had occupied most
of the site in a flamboyant art deco building for over 50 years, relocated
one block west to the southwest corner of 6th & Vine, in the ground
floor of the Terrace Hilton. The remainder of the site was occupied
by two row buildings, one of which housed a McDonald's, and the other Larry
Flynt's controversial Hustler Store. McDonald's has not yet opened
a new location, but Hustler quickly relocated to a lower profile site on
the 400 block of Race St.

June 2002 view from the Dubois Tower parking garage.
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for a larger version of this photo]

Although the site appears to be a simple rectangle, an
exception is the small notch visible at center left, which extends behind
the Metropole Apartments. The notch allowed for much more flexibility
in the design of the gallery spaces, and no doubt it will disorient any
visitors who assume that the building occupies a rectangular site.

June 2002 view from 6th St.
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for a larger version of this photo]